And then there is 24: Legacy. There were very high expectations for the reboot of Fox’s signature drama, with the network giving it a post-Super Bowl launch. Based on that, 24: Legacy‘s delivery has been disappointing, with its future in limbo, possibly contingent on finding a premise for Season 2 that could reenergize the franchise. Still, with a marquee worldwide title and dearth of new drama options at Fox for next season, the reboot is in the mix.

A tough one to predict. Fox would rather not give a show the coveted post-Super Bowl slot and then kill it (that’s just embarrassing), and Legacy‘s ratings were higher than several other Fox dramas on this list. If only the action-packed series wasn’t so expensive and viewers didn’t seem to flee so decisively, a renewal would be easier.

Kiefer Sutherland has found success in his new series Designated Survivor which “is certain to come back” for a second season according to Deadline. So if Legacy were to get renewed, don’t count on Jack Bauer appearing.

TJ

Considering how weak the overall cast and lead actor was, starting over with a re-boot of the re-boot wouldn’t be illogical. Still, if the storyline is as weak as it was the first time, it wouldn’t make that much difference.

24marathonman

So they are saying that the burden is on the writers/producers to present a compelling case why they should be given a second chance. According to a lot of people on this site, the writers/producers have phoned it in this season. After all, they have made massive changes to the originally intended script which many say has screwed up the season so bad that it tarnishes the reputation of the 24 brand. So it sounds like the writers/producers have said this is a lost cause and could care less about salvaging it.

Maybe a better idea is to sell the rights to a completely different group and have a go of it on a different network or streaming service.

XAM

lol @Borey Hawkins. I honestly thought he was alright to be honest, not believable at all as a badass, but still had some heroic qualities to him. Having said that, he’s nowhere near good enough to be leading 24. He’s certainly not someone you want to go on a multi-season journey with.

Should’ve gone with Jamie Draven, someone with a deadly voice, badass enough to appeal to men and the handsome-bastardness to draw in the women.

XAM

If you’re implying that S1 of 24 and S1 of 24: Legacy are comparable in terms of quality, then quite frankly you’re a bit of a cunt.

The original 24 had living, breathing people as characters, it took ALOT fucking less than 12 episodes to warm to them. It’s all in the tiny little character quirks that made them relatable human beings.

Tom

JD

Sorry, but after subjecting myself to 11 episodes of bland characters, horrible writing and the complete misuse/underuse/(further) bastardization of Tony Almeida, I’ve had all I can take of these “changes”.

Seba

TJ

Agree 1000% – the writers tried to make a franchise based on the 24-hour format instead of realizing the original franchise was built around and reliant on the single lead character/actor. Shows like NCIS and Law & Order had formats/themes that could slip in interchangeable characters and still remain compelling viewing. Series like the Bourne movies and the original 24 don’t work without the iconic actors that founded them.

JoeV1998

Joshua

Well if tony was the main character & they started directly after solitary it might have worked better. But instead we have now president Kirkman stuck in Moscow & once again there leaving the audience hanging. After this crap if they can’t find a premise for season 2 maybe they should wait on this one & wait till kiefer is open to returning & then catch the fans up on jack Bauer. With no time jumps skipping the part about what jack may have gone through in Moscow. & don’t make the international incident so huge as far as a terrorist threat that it takes away a story of jack escaping from Moscow. That’s why the theme should really just be survival resourceful & how or does jack make it out alive.

BDJ

. You are right – the theme of the show needs to change in order for it to be revitalized. I don’t think that another season of stopping an attack is compelling TV. It’s tired and been played out. I’d love to see a season focused on a group led by Tony busting Jack out of prison

True24Fan

24: Legacy is very similar to the original 24, hence the title “24: Legacy”. The only difference is the new characters and the 12-episode format. Everything else remains the same as the original 24 that incorporated high ratings and became so popular. Some criticism of 24: Legacy is understandable (such as the minimal use of Tony), but most of the other criticism is completely shallow and unwarranted. The irrational hate for 24: legacy has led me to conclude that the original 24 attracted several bandwagon fans. If you want to hate 24: Legacy and pray for its cancellation, that’s fine. However, please do NOT do so while falsely masquerading as a “huge, long-time 24 fan”. That’s complete b.s. There is a significant difference between a “24 fan” and a “Jack Bauer fan”, “Tony Almeida fan” or whoever from the original series. The major difference in ratings among the original 24 series in comparison to 24: Legacy has exposed the fake 24 fans.The real 24 fans never deserted 24 and never stopped watching. The real 24 fans are NOT responsible for the massive viewership decline; the fake bandwagon “24 fans” are (aka Jack Bauer, Tony Almeida, Chloe O’Brian, etc., fans). Legitimate fans of the original 24 series love 24: Legacy and would like for it to continue.

XAM

First of all, fuck off! Your name AND your post is obnoxious. If I didn’t know better I’d say you were Justin, but you’re actually worse.

Second of all, you talk of fans abandoning 24, but I’d argue that 24 abandoned its fans first. No series that cares about its fans would end the main characters story the way they did, or treat Tony the way they have in Legacy. Plus, if they considered their fans they wouldn’t put them through the constant rehashing every fucking season.

JD

We don’t have to explain ourselves to this guy. People like that poster are part of the reason why the writers stopped giving a sh!t and started phoning it in over the past few years. I mean–why try hard when they know there are just enough fans willing to lap up ANYTHING they dish out REGARDLESS of quality? I’ve known a few of those “24 can do no wrong” fans over the years. Purely obnoxious and ALL of them sound like this guy: self-entitled, arrogant and condescending toward everyone else.

This is one part of the fanbase that I personally can’t stand. It’s a small part, thankfully, but it’s existed for quite a number of years now. This particular segment of the fanbase is impossible to reason with. I’ve seen them get on people’s cases for even complaining about the “missed the artery” crap regarding Tony’s resurrection. They REFUSE to even acknowledge the smallest complaints with this show–anything.

These ones make up a small pocket but are the loudest voices and the ones that the writers have (apparently) chosen to hear.

This is the faction of the fanbase that can’t grasp the concept that different people have different opinions and that there is no such thing as a “true” fan of ANYTHING.

This would be like a person accusing a parent of not “truly” loving their child because said parent is sometimes critical of their child. Could you imagine someone telling a parent that? Could you imagine someone saying: “You’re not really in love with your kid unless you just praise them and keep your negative thoughts to yourself.”

That’s how I feel regarding this show or ANY show, for that matter. To love something–to TRULY love something is to apply your personal feelings to it. The good and the bad. I love 24. When it is great, I feel the love. When it screws up, I call attention to its screw ups.

We criticize this product because we want and expect better from it…just like anyone would do for the one they love. That’s life.

Unfortunately, people like the guy above us don’t grasp simple concepts like that.

I wish people would stop excusing all of 24: Legacy’s flaws by claiming fans are simply unwilling to accept a new lead. Or other people I’ve seen have pulled the race card and claim it’s because he’s black. Both are very lazy defenses of the show.

These new characters are all bland as hell. The villains are terrible – Jadalla was lame, Ibrahim Bin-Khalid was even lamer, and I was hyped as hell for Naseri but he’s been a huge letdown too. The story is by the numbers. There’s no excitement, no tension, no sense of urgency. Real time aspect is being ignored more than ever before. The action isn’t there, the budget isn’t there. There’s no surprises or unpredictability, you can see everything coming a mile away. This is like a really bad, dumbed down version of 24.

JD

I’m glad you brought up the budget. I was watching some of Season 3 the other day and was amazed at how much more expensive and professional the show looked…and that was OVER a decade ago! Helicopters firing into buildings, massive prison riots, hotel riots, subway station pursuits, riveting sequences of TAC teams cleaning up in numerous locations.

The acting:

-Tony and Michelle’s scenes

-Chappelle in his infamous death episode

-Jack and his heroin addiction

-Ramon Salazar

-Jack ordering Jane Saunders to be placed into the hotel with Saunders breaking down

-Russian Roulette

-Michelle in the hotel

Take your pick! All of it was more exciting, more professional-looking, better written and larger in scale in every way, shape and form than ANYTHING I EVER saw in Legacy. Even LAD seemed larger in scale so people can’t use the “12 episodes only” crap as an excuse either.

24 Season 3 (my point of comparison) and Legacy don’t even feel like they belong to the same creative team. It’s like night and day.

I challenge ANYONE to tell me that Legacy looks even HALF as professional as Season 3 or ANY of those older seasons, for that matter.

Hank

This was such a huge turd. Tony was utterly pointless being in the season. The bad guys are paint by numbers. They basically rehashed the whole Victor Drazin thing, oh he’s dead, whoops, not. The real time aspect is utterly laughable. Like when he was searching for the 2 million. Really? It took him 10 minutes to find that in that tiny evidence room? They even reused the same shot like cartoons do when they come back from commercial. Even the fights/shootouts only last a minute or two. They rest of the time its been one big soap opera with love triangles and such. They rehashed the whole kidnap loved one 3 damn times in 10 episodes. even Kim didn’t get kidnapped that many times in a season. I’m missing the cougar.

JD

I’ve watched every single season of 24, including this abysmal turd. I’ve been watching since 2001 premiere of this show and I watch this show for the old characters (Jack, Tony, Palmer, Michelle, etc) and HATE this season.

PS: You don’t tell me or anyone else on this board who is/isn’t a fan and what sort of a fan they are. In fact, you’d better climb off that self-made high horse of yours before us 24 fans (rightfully) knock you off of it.

I’ll put it to you simply: you’re a fan of this crap–good for you. That’s your right–but many of us are NOT fans of it. Not loving every little facet of this show does NOT diminish one’s own fandom. You’re not the authority over what constitutes a fan of this show, so shut your mouth.

XAM

JD

Thanks. I hate these types of 24 fans. I’ve dealt with them for years. They’re the loudest voices and the ones that encourage the writers to just keep phoning it it. 24 has been fast food for years and they’ll keep shoveling the same old fries and sandwiches at us for as long as there are enough people who would scream for more while trying to censor anyone critical of it.

I hear this phrase a lot from some 24 fans: “We owe the creators–they don’t owe us a thing.”. Oh? I beg to differ. Without us fans they have no show and no job in this show. Without them we have no show. It’s a two way street and no one side is more important than the other but, at the end of the day, they sure as HELL need us a LOT more than we need them. Some of us (myself included) have put upwards of 16 years–16 YEARS of loyalty into this series…they owe us quality product–not laziness. Not 500 rehashes. Not the same damned warmed over crap that’s already been warmed over countless times. They have, quite simply, taken us loyal fans for granted. They proved that when they decided to forego the fanbase to “cater to a new generation”. This is Ghostbusters 2016 all over again…only now it’s being done with 24.

Kurt Cobain

24: Legacy is to 24, what Chris Gaines was to Garth Brooks. Hopefully FOX puts the brakes on it real fast. I believe the 24 writers quickly realized the complete and total clusterfuck that they created and rushed to change the script; hence

Carlos Benard’s statements about the Tony prison break backstory reveal which was never told/aired.

Hank

andy

i have an idea for 24 Legacy season 2. and the idea is make it a full 24 episodes. give Tony a pardon. give Sidra a pardon. make Tony and Sidra season 2 regulars in all 24 episodes. and make Tony the new head of CTU. Sidra works at CTU as Tony’s right hand. and have Tony take on a new terrorist threat with fresh faces going out into the field and going into action against the terrorists. A new CTU Unit run by Tony Almeida! and the new terror threat leads Tony and CTU into Russia in a major mission to rescue Jack Bauer and take out terrorists in Russia! and the big Tony and Jack reunion. and big Tony and Jack closure during the 24 Legacy season 2 season! Kim Bauer and Mandy return. and the biggest twist is Michelle Dessler and Tony’s son is alive! because Michelle faked her death. gave birth to Tony’s son. circumstances causes Michelle to go into hiding with Tony’s son. Michelle trains Tony’s son. makes Tony’s son ready. and they wait for the right moment to reveal themselves and reunite with Tony! this is my idea. what do you guys think?

Midsomer

Shady

andy

In my opinion Tony can have redemption if Tony goes on a mission as the new head of CTU 2 break Jack Bauer out of Russia prison and have redemption reuniting with his wife Michelle Dessler and his son!

XAM

andy

It’s a great idea. It Reunites Reiko Aylesworth with Carlos Bernard. Reiko and Carlos haven’t worked together since 24 S5. Since the CAR BOMB XPLOSION that was STAGED 2 FAKE Michelle’s and Tony’s son deaths. It would reunite Michelle and Tony onscreen. It would reunite Tony with his son. Jack Bauer has a daughter named Kim. and Tony has a son named….named…well Tony has a son! And the resurrection angle is HUGE and will take 24 Legacy Season 2 THE next LeveL!

Hank

Asian Rebel

I do think Audrey should be alive though. Because Tony’s presence is now openly known after these events, she recruits Tony, Rebecca and Sidra and Eric Carter, along with Chloe to lead a new private mission into Russia to rescue Jack from Suvarov’s loyalists.

Asian Rebel

SharanRJ

I don’t see why they’d want to renew this show, much less give it a full season. Especially with the same people incharge, where the same story is rehashed over and over. Least with a shorter season, the pacing can be much more focused (something which was done well in LAD, but is absolute crap here). With a full 24 episodes, the level of padding would be so fucking high, and quite frankly be a chore to watch. Not to mention the limited amount of plot possibilities (bares repeating).

Fact of the matter is the environment today, is much different than how it was when the show first premiered in 2001. It set the modern day standards for network TV, with regards to plot twists and character deaths. That was their biggest selling point. Nowadays, every single show does it. With the rise of cable/digital media, longform storytelling has been much more ambitious and expansive, and unfortunately the show’s gimmick just doesn’t pass muster as well as it does back then, and pales in comparison with a lot of series that air today.

FOX sees it as a cash cow, given their stubbornness when it comes to not killing of Jack. And quite frankly, given how Kiefer has no further interest in continuing (atleast for now; he might change his mind, but I don’t think he will do it, given the physically demanding nature of the role; not to mention he’s in a very well-rounded role at the moment), the story of his character will remain incomplete. They have nobody to blame but themselves (LAD would’ve been the right place to do it).

WouldntYouLikeToKnow

24 Legacy had potential, which they decided not to make use of.
How about this:
Instead of chasing Ben Grimes/the chip for half a season, why not have episode 1 end with Eric and Ben accessing the chip, but when they do so, it sends out a signal to all the sleeper cells to go ahead. OOPS, our hero and his war buddy have triggered armageddon. CLOCK.

Episode 2: Amira, brother & teacher prepare to blow up the bridge, which happens at the end of the episode. CTU finds out Henry Donovan gave Bin-Khalid’s son the name of the rangers.

Episode 3: Tony Almeida is brought in, tortured Henry, gets intel on Jadalla. Eric & Ben (who is trying to redeem himself for stealing the strong box and stuff) go after Jadalla, have an insane gun and fist battle between the three of them. Crazy shit. News is on in the background, another landmark has been blown up. Ben kills Jadalla in a fit of rage.

Episodes 4-12: Tony and Eric and Ben team up as an unusual team to take out all the remaining sleeper cells. Asim Naseri, Bin-Khalid’s former bodyguard is the main villain who is now in communication with all the cells. We see several more attacks, some of which Tony, Eric and Ben stop just in time, others they do not. Eventually Naseri kidnaps Rebeccca leading into the finale. Eric is made a CTU agent and Tony has redeemed himself, by helping throughout the day. Ben ends up sacrificing himself somehow.

You know, cut the filler, get to the good shit. Sort of like how Day 6 began with America already under attack, this season could have been the hero accidentally triggering a series of attacks, causing all sorts of guilt on his part. And making it a PERSONAL matter to stop the attacks. Cause every landmark that gets blown up, is on him. It would have been somewhat fresh at least right?

Big Boss

Really underscores how completely needless Amira et al were the whole series. No intersection with the rest of the story, no using them to get to the other baddies – just a bridge blowing up that could’ve been any one of those anonymous other cells.

JD

Yep. A much better handling of this concept was the first third of Season 3 where it was all an elaborate sting. While those events were mostly an act, it led to a development in the story, making it a part of the story and a pay off.

Asian Rebel

After Naseri is defeated, a new threat emerges because Tony Almeida is now in the open, and some of Tony’s former enemies go after him, including people in Alan Wilson’s group. The second half is centered on Tony Almeida and we learn more about his backstory and about Sidra. We also learn that Henry Donovan was part of that group.

Logic

So, the only thing on the line now is Rebecca, will she live or die. This is very anti-climatic. People die all the time on 24, and she is a character that only has the audience invest in 11 episodes… big deal one way or the other. They should have kept the story going with the sleeper cells; that would create more tension and more urgency with potentially thousands of lives on the line rather than just one.

Obviously she lives… if not, then Carter is a big fat zero.

His plan to destroy the flash drive failed; if it were not for his brother rescuing him, the terrorist would have recovered the data.

His plan with Rebecca’s trade didn’t really accomplish anything.

They wrote his character with having not much positive results with his insubordinate acts.

That’s what made Jack Bauer’s character awesome, he defied the authority of ctu, but always produced results that saved the day.

JD

And I couldn’t give two sh!ts whether she lives or dies…that how much I don’t care about this season. When George Mason, Chappelle, Michelle and Palmer died, I cared. I honestly couldn’t care less if Carter and every character were suddenly slaughtered in the finale. Hell, I’d probably even cheer. This season is a joke.

JD

TJ

Any hypothetical focus on Tony assuming the lead role could be done just as simply as LAD was: like Jack coming out of hiding to prevent an assassination on Heller, Tony can remain a freelancer and not be affiliated at all with CTU. He just steps up in some plot out of loyalty to a former character and ends up supporting a joint effort from CTU or CIA.

thom

Well, I kinda liked Legacy’s first episode. And I liked Corey as an actor… If well written he could have been a great protagonist…

I don’t believe the show needed higher budgets for big locations and explosions. Neither they needed Jack or Tony…

They could have studied 24’s season 1 while writting Legacy…. The first 13 episodes were a masterpiece….

All those impossible situations, and how clever the protagonist was… As when Jack broke Penticoff out of prison, or when Jack fooled Gaines (and the audience) when he killed Nina… No high budgets required here…. Just a story where we get amazed on how this protagonist is smart and fast…

OMG, the way Jack finally had found Kevin Carroll and “milkshaked” him was great! The villains were tough, but the hero was tougher…..

I hope Legacy doesn’t get renewed. Those writters don’t deserve it… We can just pretend Legacy never happened, and we can hope they give Jack a proper conclusion, someday….

Milo

Asian Rebel

I think they should do a 24 prequel with a new actor playing a young Jack Bauer when he’s in the military. And this will show how Christopher Henderson was able to recruit Jack into CTU and how Jack had his falling out with his father, Graem and their company and how he embarks on his life as a CTU agent. I wrote this as a fanfiction story set in Israel and the Gaza Strip with Liam Hemsworth playing the young 20 something Jack as he is stationed in the Middle East with Henderson as his commanding officer. Jack goes against orders but as a result is able to resolve a major threat by Islamic terrorists. While I didn’t like the Season 6 stuff with the Bauer family I try to explain it, and how a former hero like Henderson can become misguided to the point that he does the things he does in Season 5 with the Sentox nerve gas and killing President Palmer.

Asian Rebel

And this can also show how Jack goes from being a soldier to the tough hero we knows who does whatever he takes, a sort of “origins story” for him, where he learns he has to torture people and do controversial things for the greater good in order to stop the threat and accomplish the mission.

Asian Rebel

I disagree with that. For example I really enjoyed the Star Wars prequels and there is still a level of suspense going on. Also a lot of the Fast and Furious movies were prequels of Tokyo Drift and we know Han eventually dies but those movies were still very good and entertaining.

Brad

XAM

Rescuing Jack from prison isn’t stupid if it’s for a purpose greater than simply giving Jack his freedom. Personally I’d take anything, fucking ANYTHING over Jack coming back to help the government because attacks.

Chlojack

Well Evan and Manny are credited as the “creators” of 24: Legacy and would still get executive producer credit even if they didn’t return (I think). And at that point it probably becomes too costly to have all these EP’s with practically no involvement getting paid.

Unfortunately I think we’re stuck with this team, even though they appear to be burnt out and creatively bankrupt.

Hank

I think it was their decision to come back as Fox would have got away cheaper with new showrunners. They went for the guaranteed paycheck over the X-Men show that sounded soooo stupid and pointless, especially when compared to the Matt Nix one(even though that doesn’t sound a whole hell of a lot better, especially since Singer is involved.)

But yeah, they are so burnt out they need to step the hell away. Amazing how there are shows that go on longer that can still bring it where as this just faded into crap, with a reboot, spinoff, whatever you want to call it, no less..

XAM

There’s an easy solution to all that: don’t call the next instalment of 24, 24:Legacy. If Fox started up a new 24 and called it something like 24: Beads, 24: Chickens or 24: Numbers then that’s enough to freeze Evan and Manny out.

Joshua

I feel like @ this point after this bombshell anything filling in the gap to what’s happened with jack when the DVD releases would be ideal. @ this point even though they could make a full season outta that they could design it as a set up for a follow up to say hey we haven’t forgotten jack Bauer. But I would prefer a full season but they could give the fans something along those lines. They haven’t done anything like that for jack since season 6. They should be able to throw in something but not sure how well the DVD would sell.

Hank

WouldntYouLikeToKnow

It’s like they just watched The Dark Knight Rises, which had come out the year before, and decided to tack its ending on to the final Dexter episode, except with Dexter being a lumberjack, instead of drinking a Fernet Branca.

The scene with Yvonne Strahovski and Dexter’s kid stands in for Bruce & Selina. Dexter sailing through a tornado (like what the fuck, seriously) stands in for Batman flying the Bat(wing) over the ocean.

Everything from Dexter turning off life support (nobody notices or seems to care), then wheeling a dead person straight out of a hospital with hundreds of people looking on and nobody going “Erm, is that suspicious person wheeling a patient away?”, to dumping the person into the ocean as if it’s just some random person he killed (this is the biggest insult), to Dexter abandoning his child, leaving him with a woman he barely knows who also happens to be a killer, like Dexter himself, to Dexter sailing through a tsunami to emerge as a lumberjack on the other side, was just the biggest punch in the face I’ve ever had to witness. Just remembering that finale exists makes me angry. lol

On the plus side, nothing Manny Coto will write in the future could ever possibly be as shite as the Dexter finale. At least he’s set the bar incredibly low, it’ll be difficult to go lower.

I’m so glad I quit Dexter like two episodes into the sixth season. I thought the fifth season was a major step down in quality, and I had read comments from a Showtime executive that made it clear they were just going to milk the series as long as possible, so I bailed.

I’ve heard nothing but complaints from the fans that stuck with the show until the end. That finale you described sounds awful.

WouldntYouLikeToKnow

It genuinely felt like they filmed the first draft of every script in the final season. It may have had something to do with the fact that the final season aired during the summer, when every other season aired in the fall/winter. Basically they had a few months less to plan and write inbetween seasons. The most horrible idea when going into your final season. There were so many plot holes and in general it felt like everyone had just given up, or they thought the audience were 5 year olds that needed Dexter’s internal monologue or father to explain every single plot development. It’s truly the furthest any show has ever fallen, that I’ve personally seen. I felt sorry for the actors while watching it.

For what it’s worth, I actually still enjoyed Season 5 and its villain Jordan Chase. The whole “TAKE IT!” thing, I thought he was a decent villain. But yeah.. let’s not even talk about season 6. In hindsight I don’t know why I stuck with the show post-S5.

One of the original writers came out and posted his idea for the ending of Dexter online that he would have used had he stayed on. Basically Dexter wakes up, we think it was all a dream. But then we see he’s in prison in the execution chamber and the entirety of the show was his life flashing before his eyes, in the few moments between the lethal injection and his death. And he sees everybody he’s ever killed on the show sitting there, watching him.

This would have been a much better ending… Alas, the entire creative team bolted after Season 4. If only 24 Legacy’s entire “creative” team fled…

Chlojack

Interesting, I was just thinking about Coto’s involvement in Dexter’s final season, and the similarities between that and 24 Legacy. In both cases, it feels like the creators were burned out, and just didn’t put any effort in. The treadmill scene in Dexter, where Harrison fell, and his stunt double was so obviously a grown man was one of the worst TV moments ever.

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